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Fanon:Prologue (BtC)
| book= | chronicle= | chapter= 0 | guests= | writer= | editor= | airdate= TBD | prev= None | next= Chapter 1 }}Prologue is the prologue of " ", written by . Plot Shu entered to a bar. The place was full and two barmen were serving in that moment. One of them hurried to serve him, not because he was excited for working, actually, it was around five and the tiredness of a whole day in the bar was already starting to be noticeable, but he needed money and was desperate for any extra tip he could obtain. The twenty three year-old man asked for a mango, he had tasted it before in other bars, but it was the first time he visited this one; he had found it out while turning aside from his normal way back home, he had wanted to be later there, he didn't like much the idea of meeting his parents that early, a rest of some hours would do him some good. The barman took his two dao swords and waved them nimbly and swiftly making a movement Shu almost didn't see, hearing only the sound it’s produced when a mango is pierced by the blade of a weapon; in less than a second the fruit was already cut in perfectly equal pieces on the table, he added some more ingredients and mixed them all in a hollow coconut, a straw and a umbrella were put to adorn. The man stretched his tattooed arm with the drink to Shu. - It's done, sir – he said saving the swords at his sides. - Thank you – answered Shu, still amazed for the ability of the man. He had not seen a spectacle like this one before in any other place. He sucked the straw feeling how the liquid, icy, flooded his mouth; the touch of alcohol was tuned with the flavor of the mango, he couldn't distinguish the other ingredients but it didn't matter, the drink was delicious. He thought of giving the barman a generous tip. Shu looked around: there was a couple behind him, each one drinking a glass of something, they didn't seem to want to talk much between each other; in the corner a group of men, most of them drunk, were commenting not too sneaky about an old man who was in the table next to them, an old man, around eighty years old, who was alone and trying to link both sides of his robe closing it to hide something underneath it. He might have stolen something, was what Shu thought. He shrugged and directed the gaze to the barman again, who was already serving a new client, who immediately left after he was asked for an identification to prove his age. A violent sound made him turn his head again towards the table of the old man. The group of men of the corner had stood up and took the elder, who tried to defend himself throwing kicks as he could, but the strength and the number of the drunk men were bigger and they disappeared behind the door with the old man in their arms. Shu looked at the barman, who didn't seem as astonished as him to what had just happened and understood that the expression of his client demanded an explanation. Don’t care about that, it happens usually. They probably found out that the old man is from Ab. I had already seen the clothes he was wearing under the robe when he asked me for a drink but I didn't say anything, I knew someone would notice sooner or later. It was obvious, thought Shu, the reason why someone was commonly attacked that way publicly was almost always because that person was from Ab. The war with the neighboring city had originated hatred between the people of Ab and Xen. The two cities, separated by the Kolau mountain rage, had been in war for more than sixty years already. Although, according to Shu, the continuity of the war made no sense at all due to it had started only because of two mad kings of that time, who acted completely irrationally and against the whole population’s thought. However, at the present time, most of the people of both cities believed that the war should continue, the problem that had started all this had still to be solved. No one could endure the presence of a person from the neighbor city. Sixty five years ago, Garmo III, king of Ab then, known for taking unreasoning decisions and generally against people's will, learned that in Xen, the army had executed a ten year-old girl born in Ab who lived with her family in the other city. When Garmo discovered that the sentence had been determined without a previous judgment, but a simple murder accusation by a witness had sufficed for the final decision of the king of Xen, he, enraged, ordered to kill all the inhabitants born in Xen who lived in his city. Of course, the new quickly arrived to the ears of King Lin, who took this act as the beginning of a war; he called the general of his army and told him to fire Ab, no one should remain alive after the attack. So did the general, and in less than three days the whole city burned and, besides the flames, no movement could be seen in the streets. However, many inhabitants could run away and hide in the forest, including the heir to the throne, now the new king, of Ab. The son of Garmo commanded the reconstruction of the city and continued what his father had done, once he could make a new army with a good number of soldiers, he sent troops to attack Xen, starting this way the first years of the war. And now this continued, the majority still felt offended by the old kings' actions. Continuously, attacks occurred in both cities, the current kings still sent troops now and then, and there were also many terrorist groups that crossed the mountains to plant bombs in different sectors. Despite all this, and the insecurity there was in the streets, people kept supporting the war. Besides himself, Shu didn't know anyone who was against this, even his parents hated Ab. Of course, Shu had not shared his ideas with anyone, he could imagine what his father would say. In the mine, he had heard his coworkers talk many times about the war, but when they asked him for his opinion, he always found a way to avoid the question. Shu finished his mango, paid, and thanked the barman leaving two silver pieces to him. He got out of the bar and immediately felt the heat of the day, one of the hottest days in the last years. He started walking looking for shadows towards the mountains, he wanted to be alone for a moment and think. He chose the lowest summit to see Ab from there, he had never seen the 'enemy' city, and in that moment he felt like doing so, to see against what his city was fighting. He estimated it would take about two hours to reach the top of that mountain, he had time, he had not to go to the mine tomorrow. The mine . . . he hated to work there, where the only things he heard were pro war comments, where no one would ever agree with him. Would someone who's against the war exist in Ab? He was thinking about this almost remote possibility, finally concluding it was impossible, he was the only one who thought this way in the world, nothing could do a normal person against a whole city. But, even if he could do something, would he? would he try to end the war if he had a group of persons supporting him? But, how was the continuity of the war affecting him? Besides his own security, about he didn’t really care (he had never seen himself in danger for this cause and his parents almost didn't go out of home), what really bothered him was that people continued with something with no sense, people died for something with no sense, the reason to live for a lot of people was something with no sense. Anyway, why putting himself in a hypothetical situation? The truth was that he was alone and he could do nothing about it, he wanted or not. He arrived to the foot of the mountain he would climb, stopped for a second, looked up, he was right, about two hours, but the heat was intense and he was already drenched with sweat, with not even have started; he wished another mango in that moment. He started, following a way someone else had made before, probably someone who had done the same, of course not with the same intentions, no one else would climb a mountain just to see Ab, but to attack it or plan an attack. Shu wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve and took a staff to use as a crook and move aside all the hawthorns in the way, it could also be useful as a weapon if an animal attacked him. He was ignorant about the species that inhabited the mountain, but had once heard that boarcupines could be found in the area, although almost nothing he could do with a staff if a creature like that one attacked. He had walked nearly an hour and was already tired, he needed water, thought of coming back, but he was half way, the thirst was unbearable. His feet started to hurt, and an hour was even that much time for him to be tired, he wasn't in a bad physic condition thanks to the mine work, but the heat and the slope were against him. Shu stopped for a moment to look backwards; there was Xen, he was not that high but could see almost the entire city, it wasn’t too big, but was, according his knowledge, bigger than Ab. He would soon ascertain that. Shu took steps each time with more effort, but he was as soon as he could without running, he wanted to reach the summit and go back before it was dark, he was really worried for the wild animals. His right foot suddenly found a stone that made him fall face-first into the ground. He felt all his body dash against the stones of the road and the chest against his staff, which had fallen before him, his left arm had rubbed a bush with thorns and the head was beating because of the hit; he quickly stood up jerking his clothes, took out one by one the thorn in his arm, picked up the staff, and he went on his way. All this only to see Ab? He didn’t even know why he was continuing. A year ago, Shu had watched the execution of two persons from Ab, the army had found them out and the king had ordered to hang them. Every time the army caught someone from Ab, this was the decision of the king, but most of the times, civilians were who found the 'invaders'. In these cases, they were usually stoned in the street, suddenly a cry could be heard: "There’s someone from Ab here!", and immediately there could be seen people crouching to take stones and then making a crowd around the future victim. Once they made sure to have finished, moved the body to a corner and continued their life normally. The corpse was later taken out by soldiers, although no one knew what they did with all them. }} Category:Beyond the Cave chapters (fanon)